Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof

ABSTRACT

A thin semiconductor wafer, on which a top surface structure and a bottom surface structure that form a semiconductor chip are formed, is affixed to a supporting substrate by a double-sided adhesive tape. Then, on the thin semiconductor wafer, a trench to become a scribing line is formed by wet anisotropic etching with a crystal face exposed so as to form a side wall of the trench. On the side wall of the trench with the crystal face thus exposed, an isolation layer for holding a reverse breakdown voltage is formed by ion implantation and low temperature annealing or laser annealing so as to be extended to the top surface side while being in contact with a p collector region as a bottom surface diffused layer. Then, laser dicing is carried out to neatly dice a collector electrode, formed on the p collector region, together with the p collector region, without presenting any excessive portions and any insufficient portions under the isolation layer. Thereafter, the double-sided adhesive tape is removed from the collector electrode to produce semiconductor chips. A highly reliable reverse-blocking semiconductor device can thus be formed at a low cost.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/208,459 filed Aug.19, 2005 which claims priority from Japanese applications Serial Nos. JPPA 2004-240094, filed on Aug. 19, 2004, JP PA 2004-312590, filed on Oct.27, 2004, and JP PA 2005-017486, filed on Jan. 25, 2005, the contents ofall of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a power semiconductor device used in adevice such as a power conversion device and a manufacturing methodthereof, and particularly to a process of forming an isolation layer ina bidirectional device or a reverse-blocking device having bidirectionalvoltage withstanding characteristics.

B. Description of the Related Art

In a semiconductor device of a reverse-blocking type, reverse-blockingcapability equivalent to forward-blocking capability is required. Inorder to secure reverse-blocking capability, it is necessary to make ap-n junction holding a reverse breakdown voltage extend from the bottomsurface of a semiconductor chip to its top surface. A diffused layer forforming the p-n junction extended from the top surface to the bottomsurface is an isolation layer.

FIGS. 28A to 28C are cross sectional views showing conventionalmanufacturing steps in a related manufacturing method in the order in acase of forming an isolation layer in a related reverse-blocking IGBTpresented by its principal part. The method is one of forming theisolation layer by coating and diffusion. First, on semiconductor wafer151, oxide film 152, having a film thickness of about 2.5 μm is formedby thermal oxidation as a dopant mask (FIG. 28A). Next, oxide film 152is subjected to patterning etching, by which opening 153 is formed forforming an isolation layer (FIG. 28B).

Following this, opening 153 is coated with boron source 154. Thereafter,a high temperature and lengthy heat treatment of semiconductor wafer 151is carried out in a diffusion furnace to form a p-type diffused layerwith a thickness on the order of several hundred micrometers (FIG. 28C).The p-type diffused layer becomes isolation layer 155. Then, althoughnot particularly illustrated, after a top surface structure is formed,the bottom surface of semiconductor wafer 151 is ground until groundsurface 156 reaches isolation layer 155 to thin semiconductor wafer 151.On ground surface 156, a bottom surface structure is formed which ismade up of a p collector region and a collector electrode. Subsequent tothis, semiconductor wafer 151 is cut at a scribing line positioned atthe center of separation layer 155 to form an IGBT chip.

FIG. 29 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of therelated reverse-blocking IGBT whose isolation layer 155 is formed by themethod shown in FIGS. 28A to 28C. In FIG. 29, reference numeral 161denotes a p well region, 162 denotes a p voltage withstanding region,163 denotes an emitter region, 164 denotes a gate insulator film, 165denotes a gate electrode, 166 denotes an interlayer insulator film, 167denotes an emitter electrode, 168 denotes a field oxide film, 169denotes a field plate, 170 denotes a p collector region, 171 denotes acollector electrode, and 172 denotes a dicing face.

FIGS. 30A to 30C are cross sectional views showing manufacturing stepsin order in another conventional case of forming an isolation layer in arelated reverse-blocking IGBT presented by its principal part. In thismethod the isolation layer is formed by providing a trench and forming adiffusion layer on the side wall of the trench. First, an etching maskis formed with thick oxide film 173 having a thickness of severalmicrometers (FIG. 30A). Next, a trench having a depth of the order ofseveral hundred micrometers is formed by carrying out dry etching (FIG.30B). Then, an impurity is introduced into the side wall of the trenchby means of vapor phase diffusion 175 to form isolation layer 176 (FIG.30C).

FIG. 31 is a cross sectional view of a principal part of the relatedreverse-blocking IGBT in which isolation layer 176 is formed by themethod shown in FIGS. 30A to 30C. Trench 174 is filled with reinforcingmaterial 177. Thereafter, dicing is carried out along a scribing line,by which an IGBT chip is cut from semiconductor wafer 151. In this way,a reverse-blocking IGBT is completed. Reference numeral 178 denotes adicing face. The other constituents are the same as those shown in FIG.29.

Such a method of providing trench 174 and forming isolation layer 176 onthe side wall of trench 174 is disclosed in JP-A-2-22869,JP-A-2001-185727 and JP-A-2002-76017. In JP-A-2-22869, it is disclosedthat a trench is formed from the top surface of a device to a bottomside junction so as to surround an active layer, and a diffusion layeris then formed on the side face of the trench to form an isolation layerwith an end of the bottom side junction of the device extended to thetop surface of the device. In JP-A-2001-185727 and JP-A-2002-76017, itis disclosed that, as in JP-A-2-22869, a trench is formed from the topsurface of the device to a bottom junction and a diffusion layer is thenformed on the side face of the trench to thereby make the deviceprovided as a device having a reverse-blocking capability.

In a method of forming the isolation layer in the reverse-blocking IGBTshown in FIGS. 28A to 28C, a high temperature and lengthy diffusiontreatment is necessary for diffusing boron by carrying out heattreatment from boron source 154 (a liquid diffusion source of boron)coated on the surface to form isolation layer 155 with a diffusion depthof the order of several hundred micrometers. This makes quartz fixturesforming a diffusion furnace such as a quartz board, a quartz tube and aquartz nozzle necessary. Such fixtures cause fatigue, contamination byforeign materials from a heater and strength reduction due todevitrification of the quartz fixtures.

Moreover, in forming isolation layer 155 by the coating and diffusionmethod, it becomes necessary to form a masking oxide film (oxide film152). The masking oxide film is required to be provided as a thick oxidefilm with a high quality for being made to withstand the lengthy borondiffusion. As a method of obtaining a silicon oxide film with highresistance of mask, that is, with a high quality, there is a thermaloxidation method.

However, it is necessary to form a thermal oxide film with a filmthickness of about 2.5 μm in order to prevent boron atoms frompenetrating through the masking oxide film during the diffusionprocessing of isolation layer 155 with boron, which takes place at hightemperature for a long time, e.g., at 1300° C. for 200 hours. Forforming such a thermal oxide film with a film thickness of about 2.5 μm,an oxidation time required at an oxidation temperature of 1150° C., forexample, is about 200 hours in dry oxidation (dry atmosphere of oxygen),by which a high quality oxide film can be obtained.

Even with wet or pyrogenic oxidation, which is known to require ashorter oxidation time compared with that in dry oxidation though thereis slight inferiority in quality of an obtained oxidized film, a longoxidation time of about 15 hours is still necessary. Furthermore, in theabove oxidation processing, a large amount of oxygen is introduced intoa silicon wafer. This introduces crystal defects such as oxygen depositsand oxidation induced stacking faults (OSF) and produces oxygen donorsto thereby cause adverse effects such as characteristics deteriorationand reliability degradation of a device.

Furthermore, also in the step of diffusing boron carried out after boronsource 154 has been coated, the above high temperature and lengthydiffusion processing is usually carried out under an atmosphere ofoxygen. This causes oxygen atoms to be introduced into crystal latticesin the wafer as interstitial oxygen atoms. Thus, also in the diffusionstep, crystal defects such as oxygen deposits, oxygen donor production,OSF and slip dislocations are introduced. It is known that a leakagecurrent is increased in a p-n junction formed in a wafer with suchcrystal defects being introduced and a breakdown voltage and reliabilityare significantly degraded in an insulator film formed on the wafer bythermal oxidation. Moreover, oxygen atoms taken in during diffusionprocessing become donors to cause an adverse effect of lowering abreakdown voltage.

In the method of forming the isolation layer shown in FIGS. 28A to 28C,approximately isotropic diffusion of boron progresses toward a siliconbulk from the opening of the masking oxide film. Thus, boron diffusionof up to 200 μm in the depth direction causes the boron to be inevitablydiffused also in the lateral direction up to 160 μm. This causes anadverse effect on reduction in device pitch and chip size.

In the method of forming the isolation layer shown in FIGS. 30A to 30C,trench 174 is formed by dry etching and boron is introduced into theside wall of the formed trench 174 to form the isolation layer.Thereafter, trench 174 is filled with reinforcing material 177 such asan insulator film or semiconductor film. Since a trench with a highaspect ratio can be formed, the formation method shown in FIGS. 30A to30C is more advantageous for reduction in device pitch as compared tothe forming method shown in FIGS. 28A to 28C.

However, the processing time required for etching to a depth of theorder of 200 μm is on the order of as long as 100 minutes per one waferwhen a typical etching equipment is used. This brings adverse effectssuch as an increase in lead time and the amount of maintenance.Moreover, when a deep trench is formed by dry etching with a siliconoxide (SiO₂) film used as a mask, a thick silicon oxide film with athickness of several micrometers is necessary because the etchingselectivity is 50 or less. The thick silicon oxide film causes adverseeffects such as increase in cost, reduction in a rate of acceptableproducts due to introduction of process-induced crystal defects such asOSFs and oxygen deposits.

Further, when a process of forming an isolation layer in which a deeptrench with a high aspect ratio that is formed by dry etching is used,there is a problem in that residues such as chemical residue 179 andresist residue 180 are left in the trench as shown in FIG. 32 to causeadverse effects such as reduction in yield and reduction in reliability.When a dopant such as phosphorus or boron is introduced into the sidewall of a trench, dopant introduction usually is carried out byimplanting dopant ions with the wafer inclined because of the verticalside wall of the trench. However, introduction of a dopant into the sidewall of the trench having a high aspect ratio causes adverse effectssuch as reduction in an effective dose (and an accompanying increase inimplantation time), a decrease in effective projected range, a dose lossdue to presence of a screen oxide film and reduction in implantationuniformity. Therefore, in order effectively to introduce an impurityinto a trench having a high aspect ratio, a vapor phase diffusion isused in which a wafer is exposed to an gasified atmosphere of a dopantsuch as PH₃ (phosphine) or B₂H₆ (diborane) instead of implanting dopantions into an wafer. The vapor phase diffusion, however, is inferior infine controllability of dose compared with ion implantation.

Moreover, when a trench having a high aspect ratio is filled with aninsulator film, a space referred to as a void is produced in the trenchwhich causes a reduction in reliability. A method previously has beenproposed in which a trench is formed with anisotropic dry etching andthen boron is diffused from the inner face of the trench to form anisolation layer (Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-36274). By theproposed method, the spread of boron in the lateral direction in a wafercan be inhibited. Furthermore, in the methods disclosed in each of theabove-described JP-A-2-22869, JP-A-2001-185727 and JP-A-2002-76017, itis conceivable that a step of filling a trench with a reinforcingmaterial may be necessary for cutting a wafer at a scribing line toprovide a semiconductor chip and a manufacturing cost is thereforeincreased.

The present invention is directed to overcoming or at least reducing theeffects of one or more of the problems set forth above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to solve the above-described problems in the art, it is anobject of the invention to provide a semiconductor device having highreliability, small device pitch and small chip size. Moreover, it isanother object of the invention to provide a method of manufacturing asemiconductor device which is capable of forming an isolation layerwithout carrying out high temperature and long time diffusion processingand long time oxidation processing. Furthermore, it is still anotherobject of the invention to provide a method of manufacturing asemiconductor device that is capable of manufacturing a semiconductordevice having high reliability at a low cost.

In order to solve the above-explained problems and achieve the aboveobjects, a semiconductor device according to a first aspect of theinvention is characterized by including:

a second conductivity type base region selectively provided in a surfaceregion on a first principal surface of a first conductivity typesemiconductor substrate;

a first conductivity type emitter region selectively provided in asurface region on the base region;

a MOS gate structure including:

-   -   a gate insulator film provided on a surface of a section of the        base region, the section being positioned between the        semiconductor substrate and the emitter region; and    -   a gate electrode provided on the gate insulator film;

an emitter electrode being in contact with the emitter region and thebase region;

a second conductivity type collector layer provided on a surface layerof a second principal surface of the semiconductor substrate;

a collector electrode being in contact with the collector layer; and

a second conductivity type isolation layer surrounding the MOS gatestructure, reaching the second principal surface from the firstprincipal surface while being inclined to the second principal surface,and being coupled to the collector layer,

each of the first principal surface and the second principal surfacebeing a {100} plane, and the isolation layer being an impurity layerformed by introducing a second conductivity type impurity into a sidewall of a {111} plane of a trench formed in the semiconductor substrate.

A semiconductor device according to a second aspect of the invention ischaracterized in that, in the device according to the first aspect ofthe invention, the second conductivity type isolation layer has an angleof inclination of 54.7° to the second principal surface. A semiconductordevice according to a third aspect of the invention is characterized inthat, in the device according to the first aspect of the invention, thetrench is filled with an insulator film or a semiconductor film.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to a fourthaspect of the invention is characterized in that, in manufacturing asemiconductor device having:

a second conductivity type base region selectively provided in a surfaceregion on a first principal surface of a first conductivity typesemiconductor substrate;

a first conductivity type emitter region selectively provided in asurface region on the base region;

a MOS gate structure including:

-   -   a gate insulator film provided on a surface of a section of the        base region, the section being positioned between the        semiconductor substrate and the emitter region; and    -   a gate electrode provided on the gate insulator film;

an emitter electrode being in contact with the emitter region and thebase region;

a second conductivity type collector layer provided on a surface layerof a second principal surface of the semiconductor substrate;

a collector electrode being in contact with the collector layer; and

a second conductivity type isolation layer surrounding the MOS gatestructure, reaching from the first principal surface to the secondprincipal surface while being inclined to the second principal surface,and being coupled to the collector layer,

each of the first principal surface and the second principal surfacebeing a {100} plane, and a surface of the isolation layer being a {111}plane,

the method includes the steps of:

covering the first principal surface of the first conductivity typesemiconductor substrate with a mask having openings of a desiredpattern;

forming a trench whose cross sectional shape is one of a V-shape and atrapezoid-shape on the semiconductor substrate by carrying out wetanisotropic etching with sections of the first principal surface of thesemiconductor substrate without being covered by the mask made incontact with an alkaline solution; and

forming the second conductivity type isolation layer by introducing asecond conductivity type impurity into a side wall of the trench.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to a fifthaspect of the invention is characterized in that, in the methodaccording to the fourth aspect of the invention, the trench is formed soas to be inclined at an angle of 54.7° to the second principal surface,and the second conductivity type impurity is introduced into the sidewall by ion implantation. A method of manufacturing a semiconductordevice according to a sixth aspect of the invention is characterized inthat, in the method according to the fourth or the fifth aspect of theinvention, after the MOS gate structure including the gate insulatorfilm and the gate electrode is formed on the first principal surfaceside, the formation of the trench and the introduction of the secondconductivity type impurity are carried out in the order to form thesecond conductivity type isolation layer. A method of manufacturing asemiconductor device according to a seventh aspect of the invention ischaracterized in that, in the method according to the fourth or thefifth aspect of the invention, after the MOS gate structure includingthe gate insulator film and the gate electrode is formed and the emitterelectrode is formed on the first principal surface side, the formationof the trench and the introduction of the second conductivity typeimpurity are carried out in the order to form the second conductivitytype isolation layer.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to an eighthaspect of the invention is characterized in that, in the methodaccording to the fourth or the fifth aspect of the invention, after theMOS gate structure including the gate insulator film and the gateelectrode is formed and the emitter electrode is formed on the firstprincipal surface side and the surface protection film of the firstprincipal surface side is formed, the formation of the trench and theintroduction of the second conductivity type impurity are carried out inthe order to form the second conductivity type isolation layer. A methodof manufacturing a semiconductor device according to a ninth aspect ofthe invention is characterized in that, in the method according to anyone of the fourth to the eighth aspects of the invention, the secondconductivity type impurity is introduced into the side wall of thetrench before the trench is filled with one of an insulator film and asemiconductor film, and heat treatment is thereafter carried out.

According to the first to the ninth aspects of the invention, in the wetanisotropic etching with an alkaline solution, the etching mask can bethinned by forming the mask with a silicon oxide film or a siliconnitride (Si₃N₄) film having very high mask selectivity. For example,when a silicon oxide film is used for an etching mask and a potassiumhydroxide (KOH) aqueous solution is used for an etching solution, maskselectivity is very large, as much as 350 to 500. This allows a siliconoxide film as a mask oxide film to be very thin. Therefore, when a maskoxide film is formed by thermal oxidation, an oxidation temperature canbe lowered and an oxidation time can be significantly shortened. Thiscan reduce a problem of large lead time and a problem of causing crystaldefects due to oxygen introduction at oxidation that are experienced inrelated devices and methods.

Moreover, a silicon oxide film formed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD)has sufficient mask selectivity as an etching mask, although such asilicon oxide film is a little inferior to a thermal oxide film in filmquality (resistance of mask). Thus, a TEOS (tetraethylorthosilicate)film or a silicon nitride film formed by reduced pressure CVD orplasma-assisted CVD can be used as an etching mask. In this case, atemperature for forming the film with CVD is as low as 200 to 680° C.,so that in the latter part of a wafer forming process, namely afterformation of a MOS gate structure, after a wafer forming process, orafter formation of a surface protection film, a trench for forming anisolation layer can be formed.

In wet anisotropic etching with an alkaline solution, an etching ratecan be obtained that is very high. For example, in the case of carryingout etching at 110° C. by using a potassium hydroxide aqueous solutionwith a concentration of 54 wt %, the etching rate is about 8 μm/min. Inaddition, in wet etching, the etching can be carried out by a systemreferred to as a batch processing system in which several wafers or eventens of wafers can be simultaneously processed, which is very effectivein lead time reduction and cost reduction.

Moreover, in the wet anisotropic etching with an alkaline solution, anetching temperature is taken at 200° C. or less. This makes a thermalload so small as to exert no influence on a dopant profile in the activeregion. Furthermore, even though structures of metals with comparativelylow melting points such as aluminum (Al) or of non-heat-resistantmaterials are formed on the wafer before the trench is formed by the wetanisotropic etching, no influence is exerted on the structures bycarrying out the etching.

Moreover, by forming the trench by wet anisotropic etching with analkaline solution and by thereafter carrying out implantation of boronions into the side wall of the trench, a heat treatment temperature canbe made lower than that in a related method and a heat treatment timecan be made shorter than that in a related method. This allows an effectof reduction in a lead time at formation of the isolation layer and anaccompanying improvement in a rate of acceptable products. In addition,the taper angle of the side wall of the trench is very large comparedwith that of the trench formed by dry etching. This can reduce adverseeffects of a related method in ion implantation, namely those such asreduction in an effective dose, loss of a dose due to presence of ascreen oxide film, loss of a dose due to reflection and re-emission ofan ion beam, and a reduction in the effective projected range.Furthermore, with the taper angle of the side wall of the trench beingvery large, chemical and resist residues in the trench can be easilyremoved, which is largely effective in enhancing yield and in improvingreliability.

In addition, in the wet anisotropic etching with an alkaline solution,when a mask alignment is arranged parallel or perpendicular to <110>crystal direction on the (100) silicon wafer, the taper angle of theside wall of the trench is fixed at 54.7°. This results in minimumprocess dependent variation. Furthermore, by fixing the side wall of thetrench at a taper angle of 54.7°, at the time when the etching inprogress comes to provide the trench with a V-shaped cross section, theprogress of the etching automatically stops. In other words, the depthof the trench is determined by the opening width of the etching mask.This is effective in making variation in the depth of the trench muchsmaller than that experienced in a related method.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to a tenthaspect of the invention is characterized by including the step of:

forming a plurality of diffused layers, a first main electrode and acontrol electrode on a first principal surface side of a semiconductorwafer;

thinning the semiconductor wafer by grinding a second principal surfaceof the semiconductor wafer;

forming a diffused layer and a second main electrode in contact with thediffused layer on the second principal surface side of the thinnedsemiconductor wafer;

affixing the second main electrode to a supporting substrate with anadhesive layer put between;

forming a trench reaching the diffused layer on the second principalsurface side from the first principal surface side;

forming on the whole area of the surface of the side wall an isolationlayer having the same conductivity type as the diffused layer on thesecond principal surface side so that the isolation layer is made incontact with the diffused layer on the second principal surface side;and

removing the adhesive layer away from the thinned semiconductor wafer toprovide the semiconductor wafer as a semiconductor chip.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to aneleventh aspect of the invention is characterized in that, in the methodaccording to the tenth aspect of the invention, the adhesive layer isformed of at least a thermal foaming tape. A thermal foaming tape is anadhesive tape which loses adhesive force when it is heated. A method ofmanufacturing a semiconductor device according to a twelfth aspect ofthe invention is characterized in that, in the method according to thetenth aspect of the invention, a crystal face of the first principalsurface of the thinned semiconductor wafer is a {100} plane, and acrystal face of the surface of the trench is a {111} plane. A method ofmanufacturing a semiconductor device according to a thirteenth aspect ofthe invention is characterized in that, in the method according to thetwelfth aspect of the invention, the trench is formed by wet anisotropicetching.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to afourteenth aspect of the invention is characterized in that, in themethod according to the tenth or the twelfth aspect of the invention,the isolation layer is formed by ion implantation and low temperaturefurnace annealing at 500° C. or below. A method of manufacturing asemiconductor device according to a fifteenth aspect of the invention ischaracterized in that, in the method according to the tenth or thetwelfth aspect of the invention, the isolation layer is formed by ionimplantation and laser annealing. A method of manufacturing asemiconductor device according to a sixteenth aspect of the invention ischaracterized in that, in the method according to the fifteenth aspectof the invention, an irradiation energy density of a laser projectedonto the surface of the side wall of the trench is constant over thewhole area of the surface of the side wall.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to aseventeenth aspect of the invention is characterized in that, in themethod according to the sixteenth aspect of the invention, theirradiation energy density of the laser is 1.5 Joule/cm² or more. Amethod of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to a eighteenthaspect of the invention is characterized in that, in the methodaccording to the sixteenth or the seventeenth aspect of the invention,the trench has a depth to the bottom face of 1 mm or less.

According to the tenth to the eighteenth aspects of the invention, athin semiconductor wafer, formed with a top surface structure and abottom surface structure for forming a reverse-blocking semiconductorchip, is affixed to a supporting substrate, a trench to be a scribingline is formed on the thin semiconductor wafer, an isolation layer isformed on the side face of the trench, and the semiconductor wafer isremoved from the supporting substrate to be provided as semiconductorchips. This allows a dicing process as was carried out in the relatedmethod to be omitted. Moreover, no coating and diffusion method is usedin forming the isolation layer, so that an adverse effect such asdegradation in characteristics due to oxygen can be reduced. Therefore,a reverse-blocking semiconductor device with high reliability can beprovided at a reduced cost. Furthermore, by using low temperatureannealing or laser annealing for activating the isolation layer, anisolation layer can be provided that is uniform and shallow in diffusiondepth. This allows the area occupied by the isolation layer in thesemiconductor chip to be made smaller than the area provided by therelated coating and diffusion method, which enables a reduction in adevice pitch.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to anineteenth aspect of the invention is characterized by including thesteps of:

forming a plurality of diffused layers, a first main electrode and acontrol electrode on a first principal surface side of a semiconductorwafer;

thinning the semiconductor wafer by grinding a second principal surfaceof the semiconductor wafer;

forming a diffused layer and a second main electrode in contact with thediffused layer on the second principal surface side of the thinnedsemiconductor wafer;

affixing the second main electrode to a supporting substrate with anadhesive layer put between;

forming a trench reaching the diffused layer on the second principalsurface side from the first principal surface side;

forming on the whole area of the surface of the side wall an isolationlayer having the same conductivity type as the diffused layer on thesecond principal surface side so that the isolation layer is made incontact with the diffused layer on the second principal surface side byimplanting impurity ions into the whole area of the surface of the sidewall and carrying out laser irradiation on the area into which theimpurity ions are implanted;

cutting off the diffused layer on the second principal surface side andthe second main electrode thereunder by carrying out laser irradiationon a bottom face of the trench; and

removing the adhesive layer away from the thinned semiconductor wafer toprovide the semiconductor wafer as a semiconductor chip.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to atwentieth aspect of the invention is characterized in that, in themethod according to the nineteenth aspect of the invention, the laserirradiation when the isolation layer is formed and the laser irradiationwhen the diffused layer on the second principal surface side and thesecond main electrode are cut off are carried out by the same laserirradiation device.

According to the nineteenth and twentieth aspects of the invention, itis necessary to form the device beforehand, then form the isolationlayer, and connect the isolation layer to the diffused layer on the sideof the second principal surface for controlling a depletion layer.However, by carrying out formation of the isolation layer with thedevice affixed to the supporting substrate, even though a trench isformed for forming the isolation layer, no wafer is separated intochip-shaped pieces until the ion implantation process and the annealingprocess in the trench forming section are finished. Moreover, foraffixing the device to the supporting substrate, a double-sided adhesivetape with a thermal foaming tape and a UV tape bonded together is usedto affix the thermal foaming tape onto the device surface and affix theUV tape to the supporting substrate. This makes the double-sidedadhesive tape foamed so that it is easily removed from the device afterthe annealing processing.

Furthermore, by carrying out the annealing process after the ionimplantation with laser annealing, the isolation layer can be activatedwith its temperature instantaneously elevated up to that near themelting point of silicon. Hence, dopant (p-type dopant such as B and Al,for example) ions implanted for forming the isolation layer can beactivated more highly than those annealed by low temperature furnaceannealing carried out at a temperature of 500° C. or less. At this time,only the region down to several micrometers from the surface isactivated, so that no influence is exerted on the already formed surfaceelectrode.

In addition, after the laser annealing is carried out, the diffusedlayer and the second main electrode at the bottom of the isolation layerare diced by laser irradiation. Then, the double-sided adhesive tape isthermally foamed to be removed from the wafer to make the wafer providedas individual chips. This allows the second main electrode to be dicedneatly without presenting any excessive portions or any insufficientportions under the isolation layer. Therefore, no second main electrodeis left with its portion being a little protruded from the edge of thechip or being broken off in a portion under the isolation layer.Moreover, no burr is left on the diced face of the second mainelectrode, allowing a neat edge (diced face) of the chip to be obtained.

According to the twentieth aspect of the invention, the laserirradiation device acts to activate an ion implanted layer in the laserannealing process and acts to carry out processing in a work mode in thelaser dicing process. Since the second main electrode is as thin asseveral micrometers, the time required for the laser dicing can beshortened, so that the laser dicing is more effective than ordinarydicing. Moreover, the two processes can be carried out as successiveprocesses by changing an irradiation energy density in the same device.Therefore, the two processes can be successively carried out with onedevice to allow an equipment investment cost to be reduced.

With the semiconductor device and the manufacturing method of thesemiconductor device according to the invention, the trench is formed inthe silicon semiconductor substrate by wet anisotropic etching with analkaline solution and impurity ions are implanted into the side wall ofthe trench, by which the isolation layer can be formed without carryingout high temperature and lengthy diffusion processing and lengthyoxidation processing. Moreover, the isolation layer is formed with thesemiconductor substrate affixed to a supporting substrate to therebyallow the isolation layer, connected to the diffused layer on the sideof a second principal face, to be easily formed. Furthermore, thesupporting substrate is removed after dicing of the semiconductorsubstrate is carried out by laser irradiation, by which the second mainelectrode can be diced neatly without presenting any excessive portionsor any insufficient portions under the isolation layer. Therefore, theinvention is effective in that a highly reliable semiconductor devicewith small device pitch and chip size can be obtained at a low cost.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing advantages and features of the invention will becomeapparent upon reference to the following detailed description and theaccompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view showing an arrangement of areverse-blocking IGBT according to embodiment 1 of the invention;

FIG. 2A is a cross sectional view showing the reverse-blocking IGBTshown in FIG. 1 in a state in the course of being manufactured in whichstate a masking oxide film is formed on a silicon wafer;

FIG. 2B is a cross sectional view showing the reverse-blocking IGBTshown in FIG. 1 in a state in the course of being manufactured at thestep next to that shown in FIG. 2A in which state a trench is formed bywet anisotropic etching and boron ions are implanted into a side wall ofthe trench;

FIG. 2C is a cross sectional view showing the reverse-blocking IGBTshown in FIG. 1 in a state in the course of being manufactured at thestep next to that shown in FIG. 2B in which state an isolation layer isformed along the side wall and the bottom of the trench;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view showing an arrangement of areverse-blocking IGBT according to embodiment 2 of the invention;

FIG. 4A is a cross sectional view showing the reverse-blocking IGBTshown in FIG. 3 in a state in the course of being manufactured in whichstate element regions are formed on a silicon wafer;

FIG. 4B is a cross sectional view showing the reverse-blocking IGBTshown in FIG. 3 in a state in the course of being manufactured at thestep next to that shown in FIG. 4A in which state trenches are formed onthe silicon wafer;

FIG. 4C is a cross sectional view showing the reverse-blocking IGBTshown in FIG. 3 in a state in the course of being manufactured at thestep next to that shown in FIG. 4B in which state an insulator film or asemiconductor film is deposited to fill the trench before beingannealed;

FIG. 4D is a cross sectional view showing the reverse-blocking IGBTshown in FIG. 3 in a state in the course of being manufactured at thestep next to that shown in FIG. 4C in which state the silicon wafer isthinned with its second principal surface ground and etched;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view for explaining wet anisotropic etching ofsilicon with an alkaline solution;

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a pattern of inverted-trapezoid-shapedtrenches formed by wet anisotropic etching of silicon with an alkalinesolution;

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view showing a structure along line ofcutting plane A-A in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a pattern of V-shaped trenches formed bywet anisotropic etching of silicon with an alkaline solution;

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view showing a structure along line ofcutting plane B-B in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing an arrangement of a thin semiconductorwafer in which a number of semiconductor chip forming areas of thesemiconductor devices according to the invention are integrated;

FIG. 11 is a cross sectional view showing an arrangement of a principalpart of the semiconductor chip forming area cut on line C-C in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged cross sectional view showing arrangements of thesection D and the section E in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of areverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured bya manufacturing method according to embodiment 3 of the invention inwhich state a top surface structure is formed on a semiconductor wafer;

FIG. 14 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of thereverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured bythe manufacturing method according to embodiment 3 of the invention atthe step next to that shown in FIG. 13 in which state a second principalsurface of the semiconductor wafer is ground on which a bottom surfacestructure is formed;

FIG. 15 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of thereverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured bythe manufacturing method according to embodiment 3 of the invention atthe step next to that shown in FIG. 14 in which state the semiconductorwafer is affixed to a supporting substrate with a double-sided adhesivetape in between;

FIG. 16 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of thereverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured bythe manufacturing method according to embodiment 3 of the invention atthe step next to that shown in FIG. 15 in which state a trench is formedin the semiconductor wafer;

FIG. 17 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of thereverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured bythe manufacturing method according to embodiment 3 of the invention atthe step next to that shown in FIG. 16 in which state an isolation layeris formed on the side wall of the trench;

FIG. 18 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of thereverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured bythe manufacturing method according to embodiment 3 of the invention atthe step next to that shown in FIG. 17 in which state the semiconductorwafer is removed from the double-sided adhesive tape to be separatedinto IGBT chips;

FIG. 19 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of thereverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured bythe manufacturing method according to embodiment 3 of the invention inwhich state a V-shaped scribing line region is formed as the trench;

FIG. 20 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of thereverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured bythe manufacturing method according to embodiment 3 of the invention inwhich state an inverted-trapezoid-shaped scribing line region is formedas the trench;

FIG. 21 is a characteristic diagram showing an impurity concentrationprofile in an isolation layer formed by ion implantation and lowtemperature annealing;

FIG. 22 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of thereverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured bya manufacturing method according to embodiment 4 of the invention;

FIG. 23 is a characteristic diagram showing an impurity concentrationprofile in an isolation layer when the isolation layer was subjected tolaser annealing;

FIG. 24 is a view showing a method of measuring a relationship betweenan amount of shift Z of the semiconductor substrate from the focal pointof a laser beam toward a laser beam source and a peak impurityconcentration in the semiconductor substrate;

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a relationship between the amount of shiftZ of the semiconductor substrate from the focal point of a laser beamtoward a laser beam source and the peak impurity concentration in thesemiconductor substrate;

FIG. 26 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of thereverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured bythe manufacturing method according to embodiment 5 of the invention inwhich state laser dicing is being carried out;

FIG. 27 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of thereverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured bythe manufacturing method according to embodiment 5 of the invention atthe step next to that shown in FIG. 26 in which state the semiconductorwafer is removed from a double-sided adhesive tape to be separated intoIGBT chips;

FIG. 28A is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of a relatedreverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured bya related manufacturing method in which state an oxide film is formed asa dopant mask on a semiconductor wafer;

FIG. 28B is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of a relatedreverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured atthe step next to that shown in FIG. 28A in which state an opening isformed in the oxide film;

FIG. 28C is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of a relatedreverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured atthe step next to that shown in FIG. 28B in which state an isolationlayer is formed in the semiconductor wafer;

FIG. 29 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of a relatedreverse-blocking IGBT whose isolation layer is formed by the methodshown in FIGS. 28A to 28C;

FIG. 30A is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of a relatedreverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured bya related manufacturing method in which state an oxide film is formed asan etching mask on a semiconductor wafer;

FIG. 30B is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of a relatedreverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured atthe step next to that shown in FIG. 30A in which state a trench isformed;

FIG. 30C is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of a relatedreverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured atthe step next to that shown in FIG. 30B in which state an isolationlayer is formed in the side wall of the trench;

FIG. 31 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of a relatedreverse-blocking IGBT whose isolation layer is formed by the methodshown in FIGS. 30A to 30C; and

FIG. 32 is a cross sectional view showing a state in which residues suchas a chemical residue and a resist residue are left in the trench.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

In the following, preferred embodiments of a semiconductor device and amethod of manufacturing the device according to the invention will beexplained in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Examples ineach of which the invention is applied to a reverse-blocking IGBT willbe described and explained. In the following explanations and theattached drawings, a leading character “n” or “p” attached to names oflayers and regions means that majority carriers in the layers and theregions are electrons or holes, respectively. Moreover, a sign “+”attached to the leading character “n” or “p” means that the layer andthe region have a comparatively high impurity concentration, and a sign“−” attached to the leading character “n” or “p” means that the layerand the region have a comparatively low impurity concentration.Furthermore, arrangements denoted with the same reference numerals andsigns are similar, so that redundant explanations will be omitted.

Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view showing an arrangement of areverse-blocking IGBT according to embodiment 1 of the invention. As isshown in FIG. 1, on first principal surface 15 of n⁻ siliconsemiconductor substrate 1 with high resistivity, a plurality of p baseregions 2 are selectively formed. On second principal surface 16 on abottom surface side of the substrate, p⁺ collector layer 3 is formed. Aregion in between p base regions 2 and p⁺ collector layer 3 in thedirection of the thickness of the substrate is originally n⁻ singlecrystal silicon semiconductor substrate 1, which becomes an n baseregion. Although not particularly limited, the thickness of n⁻ siliconsemiconductor substrate 1, that is, the dimension from first principalsurface 15 to second principal surface 16 is 200 μm, for example.

In active region 14 a part of which is shown by an arrow, n⁺ emitterregion 4 is selectively formed in the surface layer in each p baseregion 2. On the outside of active region 14, voltage withstandingstructure 13 is formed in a range shown between the two arrows as onetype of end structure on the surface of a planar p-n junction to ensurea forward-blocking breakdown voltage of the IGBT. Voltage withstandingstructure 13 is positioned on the outside of active region 14 in firstprincipal surface 15. Moreover, voltage withstanding structure 13 isformed by combining a plurality of stages each including a guard ring ofp⁺ semiconductor region 11, oxide film 12 and a field plate of metalfilm 24 which are formed in ring-like on the surface layer of n⁻ siliconsemiconductor substrate 1.

Gate electrode 6 is formed over each of the surface of p base region 2positioned between n⁺ emitter region 4 and the n base region (n⁻ siliconsemiconductor substrate 1), the surface of the n base region between pbase regions 2 adjacent to each other, and the surface of adjacent pbase region 2 positioned between the n base region and one of n⁺ emitterregions 4 in adjacent p base region 2, with gate insulator film 5 heldbetween gate electrode 6 and the respective surfaces. The surface of n⁺emitter region 4 is covered with emitter electrode 8. The surface of p⁺collector region 3 is covered with collector electrode 9. Betweenemitter electrode 8 and gate electrode 6, interlayer insulator film 7 isprovided.

On the outside of the voltage withstanding structure 13, p⁺ isolationlayer 20 is formed. P⁺ isolation layer 20 is formed along a side wall oftrench 21 formed from first principal surface 15. The side wall oftrench 21 is inclined at an angle of about 54.7° to second principalsurface 16. Therefore, p⁺ isolation layer 20 is inclined at an angle ofabout 54.7° to second principal surface 16 and therefore about 125.3° tofirst principal surface 15 with a strip-like cross sectional shape.

Between p⁺ isolation layer 20 and dicing face 25 to be formed by cuttingwork such as dicing, filler region 22 is formed. Filler region 22 is aregion filled with an insulator film of a material such as SOG(Spin-On-Glass), BPSG (Boro-Phospho Silicate Glass), polysilazine orpolyimide, or a semiconductor film of a material such as polysilicon orepitaxial silicon. Trench 21 is filled with filler region 22 beforedicing is carried out at dicing face 25. With p⁺ isolation layer 20 thusprovided, the depletion layer, spreading before and behind the p-njunction when a reverse bias is applied, can be prevented from spreadingover dicing face 25 and a damage region around dicing face 25, by whicha sufficient reverse breakdown voltage can be obtained.

In order to form p⁺ isolation layer 20, trench 21 is formed in n⁻silicon semiconductor substrate 1 by carrying out wet anisotropicetching with an alkaline solution. Trench 21 has a V-shaped ortrapezoid-shaped cross sectional shape with the side wall inclined at anangle of about 54.7° to second principal surface 16 of n⁻ siliconsemiconductor substrate 1. The method of forming trench 21 can beunderstood with reference to FIG. 5 to FIG. 9. FIG. 5 is a perspectiveview for explaining wet anisotropic etching of silicon with an alkalinesolution. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 31 denotes a silicon wafer andreference numeral 32 denotes an etching mask made of a silicon oxidefilm or a silicon nitride film.

Moreover, FIG. 6 and FIG. 8 are plan views each showing a pattern oftrenches for nine chips formed by wet anisotropic etching of siliconwith an alkaline solution. FIG. 7 and FIG. 9 are cross sectional viewsshowing a structure along line of cutting plane A-A in FIG. 6 and astructure along line of cutting plane B-B in FIG. 8, respectively. InFIG. 6 to FIG. 9, reference numeral 33 denotes a (100) plane to be theactive region of the device, numeral 34 denotes a (100) plane exposed byetching, and numerals 35, 36, 37 and 38 denote a (111) plane, a (11 1)plane, a (1 1 1) plane and a (1 11) plane, respectively, each being theside wall of trench 21.

Aqueous solutions of alkalis such as potassium hydroxide, hydrazine,ethylenediamine, ammonia and TMAH (tetramethylammonium hydroxide) areused as wet anisotropic etching solutions for silicon. Etching ofsilicon using such solutions is carried out such that etching ratesdiffer depending on directions of crystal planes of silicon, i.e., withanisotropy. Specifically, in using a solution of potassium hydroxide,for example, the etching rates for a (110) plane and the (100) plane are600 times and 400 times, respectively, that for the (111) plane. Namely,etching actually stops on a crystal plane equivalent to the (111) plane.

Thus, it is known that the etching carried out with an etching mask,formed on a wafer with the (100) plane so that an opening of the etchingmask is provided beforehand along the <110> directions, allows aV-shaped trench, a pyramid-shaped pit or a pyramid-shaped cavitystructure to be formed. Moreover, it is known that, by adjusting thewidth of the opening of the etching mask or an etching time, theV-shaped trench, trapezoid-shaped trench or pyramid-shaped pit can beformed with an arbitrary depth and an arbitrary size.

When etching is stopped halfway, trench 21 can be formed with a crosssection that is inverted-trapezoid-like, as shown in FIG. 5 to FIG. 7.In this case, an angle formed by each of (111) plane 35, (11 1) plane36, (1 1 1) plane 37 and (1 11) plane 38 to become the side wall oftrench 21 and (100) plane 34 exposed by etching is approximately 125.3°,which is larger than the angle of the bottom of the later describedV-shaped trench. Therefore, resist residues and chemical residues aremore easily removed than in the case of the V-shaped trench and trench21 can be easily filled with an insulator film without producing anyvoids in trench 21.

When the etching is further progressed, the (111) plane of the side wallof trench 21 is increased, while (100) plane 34 at the bottom of trench21 is decreased. Finally, as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, when (100)plane 34 at the bottom of trench 21 disappears with (111) planes on bothof the opposite sides intersecting at an angle of about 70.6°, furtheretching is substantially stopped. This causes no variation in the depthof V-shaped trench 21 even though the etching time varies. In otherwords, the depth of V-shape trench 21 is not determined depending on theetching time, but is determined depending on the opening width ofetching mask 32.

Specifically, the depth of V-shaped trench 21 has a value for which ½ ofthe opening width of etching mask 32 is multiplied by tan 54.7°. Inreverse, for forming V-shaped trench 21 so as to have a desired depth,it is necessary only that the opening width of etching mask 32 have avalue for which the depth of trench 21 is multiplied by 2/tan 54.7°. Forexample, when the trench is to be provided with a depth of 200 μm, theopening width of etching mask 32 can be provided as 283 μm, which isadvantageous for reduction of device pitch. In this case, however, thebottom of trench 21 forms a somewhat sharp acute angle of about 70.6°.Thus, it is preferable to round the corner of the bottom by carrying outprocessing such as hydrogen annealing processing, corner roundingoxidation processing, or CDE (Chemical Dry Etching).

Next, a manufacturing process of the reverse-blocking IGBT with thearrangement shown in FIG. 1 will be explained with reference to FIG. 2Ato FIG. 2C. First, masking oxide film 30 is formed on silicon wafer 31by thermal oxidation, for example (FIG. 2A). In wet anisotropic etchingof silicon with an alkaline solution, a large etching mask selectivityallows a very thin masking oxide film 30 to be provided. Even with asilicon oxide film formed by CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition), asufficient etching mask selectivity can be obtained, even though such asilicon oxide film is a little inferior to a thermal oxide film in filmquality (resistance of mask). Thus, a TEOS film formed by reducedpressure CVD or plasma-assisted CVD can be also provided as maskingoxide film 30.

Following this, patterning and etching of masking oxide film 30 arecarried out to form etching mask 32 with a desired pattern. Then, theabove-described wet anisotropic etching with an alkaline solution iscarried out to form trapezoid-shaped (or V-shaped shown by the dottedline in FIG. 2B) trench 21. Thereafter, into the side wall of trench 21,boron ions, for example, are introduced by ion implantation (FIG. 2B).At this time, since the taper angle of the side wall of trench 21 tofirst principal surface 15 as large as about 125.3°, impurity ions canbe implanted into the side wall of trench 21 without inclining siliconwafer 31. That is, the ion implantation into silicon wafer 31 can becarried out at a tilt angle of 0°.

In this case, impurity ions can be simultaneously implanted into thefour side walls of (111) plane 35, (11 1) plane 36, (1 1 1) plane 37 and(1 11) plane 38. Hence, the ion implantation can be easily carried out.Here, like in ion implantation into an ordinary trench side wall,impurity ions can be separately implanted into each of the four sidewalls of (111) plane 35, (11 1) plane 36, (1 1 1) plane 37 and (1 11)plane 38. Thereafter, heat treatment is carried out to activateimplanted impurity ions, by which, along the side wall and the bottom(in the case of trapezoid-shaped trench 21), p diffused layer 40 isformed (FIG. 2C). P diffused layer 40 becomes the above-described p⁺isolation layer 20.

Next to this, although the illustration is omitted, trench 21 is filledwith an insulator film of a material such as SOG, BPSG, polysilazine orpolyimide, or a semiconductor film of a material such as polysilicon orepitaxial silicon, by which filler region 22 is formed. Then, anannealing treatment is carried out to improve the film quality of fillerregion 22 in trench 21 and additionally to improve adhesion betweenfiller region 22 and silicon. When filler region 22 is formed withtrench 21 filled with a polysilicon film or an epitaxial silicon film,by filling trench 21 with a p semiconductor film that is formed with adopant gas, such as B₂H₆ (diborane) mixed into silane series gas as astarting material in the course of forming the film, the step ofintroducing dopant by B⁺ (boron) ion implantation can be convenientlyomitted. At this point, the step of forming p⁺ isolation layer 20 iscompleted.

After this, by following well-known steps, an element top surfacestructure in active region 14 and voltage withstanding structure 13 areformed. Then, second principal surface 16 is ground and etched to thinthe wafer. Thereafter, on the side of second principal surface 16, p⁺collector layer 3 is formed by carrying out ion implantation with boronions, for example, and heat treatment of the implanted boron ions.Moreover, on the side of second principal surface 16, collectorelectrode 9 is formed on collector layer 3 by carrying out depositionand heat treatment of gold (Au), for example. Finally, the wafer is cutinto individual chips by cutting processing such as dicing to completemanufacturing of the devices.

Embodiment 2

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view showing an arrangement of areverse-blocking IGBT according to embodiment 2 of the invention. As isshown in FIG. 3, the IGBT according to embodiment 2 has an arrangementin which, in the arrangement according to embodiment 1, filler region 22between p⁺ isolation layer 20 and dicing face 25 is made to extend ontofirst principal surface 15 to cover voltage withstanding structure 13and active region 14. The other arrangements are the same as those inembodiment 1. Therefore, as in embodiment 1, p⁺ isolation layer 20 canprevent a depletion layer, spreading around the p-n junction when theIGBT is reverse-biased, from expanding toward dicing face 25 and thedamage region around it to allow the IGBT to obtain a sufficiently highreverse breakdown voltage. Elements similar to those in embodiment 1 aredenoted with the same reference numerals and signs as those inembodiment 1, and explanations about these are omitted.

Next, a manufacturing process of the reverse-blocking IGBT with thearrangement shown in FIG. 3 will be explained with reference to FIG. 4Ato FIG. 4D. The details in each of the manufacturing steps are as wereexplained in embodiment 1. Therefore, redundant explanations will beomitted and only a rough flow of the process is explained here. First,by following well-known steps, the element top surface structure inactive region 14 and voltage withstanding structure 13 are formed onfirst principal surface 15 of silicon wafer 31 (FIG. 4A). At this time,however, an aluminum electrode to be emitter electrode 8 is not yetformed. In FIG. 4A, reference numeral 41 denotes an element regionincluding the element top surface structure in active region 14 andvoltage withstanding structure 13, and a region between element region41 and another element region 41 is separation region 42

Subsequent to this, wet anisotropic etching of silicon is carried outwith an alkaline solution to form trench 21 in separation region 42.Then, into the side wall of trench 21, boron atoms, for example, areintroduced by ion implantation. Thereafter, on the side of firstprincipal surface 15, aluminum is sputtered and etched to be formed intoemitter electrode 8 (FIG. 4B). After this, on the side of firstprincipal surface 15, an insulator film of a material such as SOG, BPSG,polysilazine or polyimide, or a semiconductor film of a material such aspolysilicon or epitaxial silicon is deposited to fill trench 21 with theinsulator film or the semiconductor film before annealing treatment iscarried out (FIG. 4C). At this point, the step of forming p⁺ isolationlayer 20 is completed. Thereafter, second principal surface 16 is groundand etched to thin the wafer (FIG. 4D). After this, on the side ofsecond principal surface 16, p⁺ collector layer 3 and collectorelectrode 9 are formed. Finally, the wafer is cut into individual chipsby cutting processing such as dicing to complete manufacturing of thedevices.

Thus, the processing of forming trench 21 by wet anisotropic etching isprocessing that causes no damage, with a processing temperature being aslow as 200° C. or below. Therefore, trench 21 can be formed in the stepafter most of a processes of forming the element top surface structureare finished, such as the step after a MOS gate structure is formed onthe side of first principal surface 15, the step after emitter electrode8 of aluminum is formed or the step after a surface protection film suchas BPSG is formed, that is, in the latter half of the devicemanufacturing process. Moreover, by filling trench 21 with the insulatorfilm or the semiconductor film, silicon wafer 31 is prevented from beingseparated into individual chips or being cracked at trench 21 when thebottom surface of silicon wafer 31 is ground to be a thin wafer.

According to embodiment 1 or 2, it is not necessary to thicken etchingmask 32 when trench 21 is formed. Hence, masking oxide film 30 to beetching mask 32 can be formed by carrying out thermal oxidation at atemperature lower than that in a related method and for a time shorterthan that in the related method. This can reduce the problem ofincreasing lead time and the problem of causing crystal defects due tooxygen introduction at oxidation. Moreover, in wet anisotropic etchingwith an alkaline solution, with an etching rate that is very high,etching can be carried out in a batch process. This is very effective inlead time reduction and in cost reduction.

Also in the wet anisotropic etching with an alkaline solution, theetching temperature is as low as 200° C. or below. This causes a verysmall thermal load that exerts no influence on the dopant profile ofactive region 14. Moreover, even though a metal having a comparativelylow melting point such as aluminum and a material having poor heatresistance are formed on silicon wafer 31 before trench 21 is formed bythe wet anisotropic etching, the etching exerts no influence on themetal and the material.

Furthermore, by carrying out implantation of boron ions into the sidewall of trench 21, the heat treatment temperature can be lower than thatin a related method and the heat treatment time can be shorter than thatin a related method. This gives an effect of reducing a lead time forforming p⁺ isolation layer 20 and consequently of improving the rate ofacceptable products. In addition, a taper angle of the side wall oftrench 21 is very large compared with that of the trench formed by dryetching. This can reduce adverse effects such as reduction in aneffective dose, loss of dose due to presence of a screen oxide film,loss of dose due to reflection and re-emission of an ion beam, andreduction in effective projected range. Furthermore, with the taperangle of the side wall of trench 21 being very large, chemical andresist residues left in trench 21 can be easily removed, which is veryeffective in enhancing yield and improving reliability.

Moreover, there is no variation in the taper angle of the side wall ofthe trench 21, so that variations in dose and in ranges of implantedions at ion implantation become far small. Further, when trench 21 ofV-shape is formed, the depth of trench 21 is determined by the openingwidth of etching mask 32. This is effective in making variation in thedepth of trench 21 much smaller than that of a trench formed by arelated method.

Embodiment 3

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing an arrangement of a thin semiconductorwafer in which a number of semiconductor chip forming areas of thesemiconductor devices (here, reverse-blocking IGBTs) according to theinvention are integrated. FIG. 11 is a cross sectional view showing anarrangement of a principal part of the semiconductor chip forming thearea cut on line C-C in FIG. 10. FIG. 12 is an enlarged cross sectionalview showing arrangements of the section D and the section E in FIG. 11.The thin semiconductor wafer is shown with the second principal surfaceof a thick semiconductor wafer, on the first principal surface of whicha top surface structure is formed, being ground and with a bottomsurface structure being formed on the ground second principal surface.No trench to be the scribing line and no isolation layer to be formed inthe trench are therefore formed yet.

In IGBT chip forming area 135 on the side of first principal surface 131of thin semiconductor wafer 101, diffused layers such as p well region102, p voltage withstanding region 103 and n emitter region 104 areformed. On a channel region of p well region 102, gate electrode 106 isformed with gate insulator film 105 in between. On gate electrode 106,interlayer insulator film 107 is formed. On n emitter region 104 and pwell region 102 (on a p contact region with a high impurityconcentration that is not shown), emitter electrode 108 is formed, onthe surface of which a protection film of a material such as polyimideis formed (not shown). A structure with these constituents is referredto as top surface structure 133. On second principal surface 132 of thinsemiconductor wafer 101, p collector region 110 is formed, on whichcollector electrode 111 is formed. A structure including p collectorregion 110 and collector electrode 111 is referred to as bottom surfacestructure 134. P voltage withstanding region 103 is a diffused layerconnected to a field plate.

FIG. 13 to FIG. 18 are cross sectional views showing a method ofmanufacturing the reverse-blocking IGBT according to embodiment 3 of theinvention in the order of manufacturing steps with the IGBT presented byits principal part. In IGBT chip forming area 135 on the side of firstprincipal surface 131 of thick semiconductor wafer 101 a with athickness of the order of 300 μm, for example, diffused layers such as pwell region 102, p voltage withstanding region 103 and n emitter region104 are formed. On the channel region of p well region 102, gateelectrode 106 is formed with gate insulator film 105 in between. On gateelectrode 106, interlayer insulator film 107 is formed. On n emitterregion 104 and p well region 102 (on the p contact region with a highimpurity concentration that is now shown), emitter electrode 108 isformed. Over the constituents thus formed, a protection film of amaterial such as polyimide is formed (not shown). The structure withthese constituents becomes top surface structure 133 (FIG. 13).

Next, second principal layer 132 a of thick semiconductor wafer 101 a isground and etched to be provided as ground surface 109 of thicksemiconductor wafer 101 a with a thickness of the order of 100 μm.Ground surface 109 becomes second principal surface 132 of thinsemiconductor wafer 101. On the side of ground surface 109, p collectorregion 110 is formed, on which collector electrode 111 is formed. Thestructure with these constituents becomes bottom surface structure 134.Thin semiconductor wafer 101 with its manufacturing steps up to thispoint have been completed is prepared (FIG. 14).

Subsequent to this, collector electrode 111 of thin semiconductor wafer101 is affixed onto supporting substrate 141 formed of a material suchas quartz glass (a glass wafer) with double-sided adhesive tape 137 inbetween. At this time, thin semiconductor wafer 101 and supportingsubstrate 141 with double-sided adhesive tape 137 are affixed to eachother by applying pressures on both thin semiconductor wafer 101 sideand supporting substrate 141 side, or by applying a roller so that noair-bubbles are contained between affixed faces.

Double-sided adhesive tape 137 has a structure in which thermal foamingtape 138 that is foamed to become removable upon heating and UV(Ultraviolet) tape 139 that becomes removable upon irradiation withultraviolet light, for example, are affixed with PET (PolyethyleneTerephthalate) film 140 in between. Collector electrode 111 of thinsemiconductor wafer 101 is affixed to thermal foaming tape 138,supporting substrate 141 is affixed to UV tape 139 (FIG. 15). Althoughnot particularly limited, each of thermal foaming tape 138 and UV tape139 has a thickness of 50 μm and PET film 140 has a thickness of 100 μm,for example. Moreover, the supporting substrate has a thickness of 600μm, for example.

Next to this, between adjacent IGBT chip forming areas 135 in thinsemiconductor wafer 101, trench 142 to be scribing line region 136 isformed by wet anisotropic etching (FIG. 16). The bottom of trench 142reaches p collector region 110. In this state, even though trench 142 isformed, thin semiconductor wafer 101, being secured to supportingsubstrate 141 with double-sided adhesive tape 137 in between, is notseparated into semiconductor chips. The side wall of the trench becomesan edge of an IGBT chip.

Requirements of an etching solution for forming trench 142 are 3 to 20%in concentration and 50 to 90° C. in temperature in a TMAH(tetramethylammonium hydroxide) aqueous solution. Moreover, requirementscan be 1 to 20% in concentration and 50 to 90° C. in temperature in anNH₄OH (ammonia) aqueous solution, and can be 10 to 60% in concentrationand 50 to 90° C. in temperature in a KOH (potassium hydroxide) aqueoussolution.

Trench 142 thus formed has a shape as explained with reference to FIG. 5to FIG. 9 in embodiment 1 because first principal surface 131 of thinsemiconductor wafer 101 is the (100) plane. The flatness of the (111)plane etched by the wet anisotropic etching is of the order of 1 nm Rawith which the plane becomes a very smooth plane. As shown in FIG. 19,in the case in which etching is naturally stopped to provide scribingline region 136 as a trench with a V-shaped cross section, the bottom ofthe V-shape of scribing line region 136 being made so as to touch pcollector region 110. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 20, in the case inwhich etching is stopped halfway to provide scribing line region 136 asa trench with an inverted-trapezoid-shaped cross section, the bottom ofthe inverted-trapezoid-shape of scribing line region 136 is made so asto touch p collector region 110.

Following this, ion implantation 144 with boron ions is carried out fromthe side of first principal surface 131 of thin semiconductor wafer 101onto the sidewall of trench 142. Then, low temperature annealing iscarried out to activate the implanted boron ions, by which isolationlayer 145 is formed (FIG. 17). In forming isolation layer 145, as in theion implantation into a vertical trench side wall, the ion implantationcan be carried out by dividing the implantation process into four steps,each being carried out for the side wall in each of the four directionsaround a chip with the wafer being inclined in each step. However, sincethe taper angle (an angle of intersection) of side wall surface 143 oftrench 142, into which surface ion implantation is carried out, to firstprincipal surface 131 is as large as about 125.3°, ion implantation canbe carried out without inclining the wafer (at a tilt angle of 0°(vertically)). In this case, only once ion implantation is sufficient,so that the process can be simplified (FIG. 16 to FIG. 18).

In forming a trench by dry etching in the related art, a high aspectratio of the trench caused reduction in an effective dose, a loss ofdose due to presence of a screen oxide film, loss of a dose due toreflection and re-emission of an ion beam, and reduction in an effectiveprojected range. In the trench according to the invention, however, nosuch problems are caused because the taper angle of the side wallsurface of the trench to the first principal surface is large as 125.3°and the aspect ratio is small. Furthermore, the small aspect ratiofacilitates removal of chemical and resist residues in the trench, andthis is very effective in enhancing yield and improving reliability. Thetaper angle of the V-shaped trench is fixed at 54.7° of an angle ofintersection of the principal surface (the second principal surface) ofthe (100) plane and the (111) plane at which etching is stopped. Thiscauses no variation in the taper angle of the side wall. Hence,variations in dose and ranges of implanted ions at ion implantationbecome very small.

As an example, the case is given in which boron ions are implanted at1×10¹⁵/cm⁻²/100 keV at a tilt angle of 0°. A temperature and a time forlow temperature annealing carried out after the ion implantation arethose which exert no influence on the emitter electrode and thecollector electrode that already are formed (at an annealing temperatureof 400° C. for an annealing time of 5 hours, for example). Moreover, theflatness of 1 nm Ra of side wall surface 143 of the 142 can ensureformation of isolation layer 145 with a diffusion depth of 1 μm.

Subsequent to this, thin semiconductor wafer 101, affixed ontosupporting substrate 141 with double-sided adhesive tape 137, is heatedto carry out thermal foaming removal of thermal foaming tape 138 fromthin semiconductor wafer 101, by which means semiconductor wafer 101 isseparated from double-sided adhesive tape 137 affixed to supportingsubstrate 141. Moreover, by irradiating UV tape 139 with ultraviolet(UV) light, UV tape 139 is removed from supporting substrate 141, bywhich means double-sided adhesive tape 137 is separated from supportingsubstrate 141 so that it can reused. IGBT forming regions 135 arecoupled to each other by thin bottom surface structure 134 with athickness of several micrometers (a total of the thicknesses of pcollector region 110 and collector electrode 111). However, when thermalfoaming tape 138 is removed, thin bottom surface structure 134 is brokenat the coupling section to separate the IGBT chips from each other (FIG.18).

Here, the thermally foamed removal of thermal foaming tape 138 iscarried out with supporting substrate 141 under semiconductor wafer 101being put on a hot plate and heated at a raised temperature of the orderof 130° C. Since the thickness left at the bottom of trench 142 ofsemiconductor wafer 101 is only several micrometers as described above,the thermally foamed removal of semiconductor wafer 101 simultaneouslyallows semiconductor wafer 101 to be separated into chips. When pcollector region 110 and collector electrode 111 coupling IGBT formingregions 135 are left without being broken, the remaining couplingsection can be cut by such measures as a laser beam. Thus, an IGBT chipshown as F section in FIG. 18 is formed. The IGBT chip is assembled in apackage to be completed as a reverse-blocking IGBT (not shown).

According to embodiment 3, thin wafer 101 with top surface structure 133and bottom surface structure 134 of an IGBT chip being formed is affixedonto supporting substrate 141 with double-sided adhesive tape 137.Thereafter, the formation of trench 142 is carried out, which alsoserves as the formation of the scribing line. On the side wall of trench142, isolation layer 145 is formed by implanting impurity ions. Byremoving double-sided adhesive tape 137 from thin semiconductor wafer101, the IGBT chip is completed. This causes less contamination of thewafer compared with the related method according to which, after trench142 is formed, the bottom surface (second principal surface 132) ofthick semiconductor wafer 101 a is ground and bottom surface structure134 is then formed. Moreover, no degradation in characteristics due tooxygen is caused unlike the isolation layer formed by the relatedcoating and diffusion method. Hence, a high rate of acceptable productsof 90% or more can be stably obtained. In addition, the step of fillingthe trench with a reinforcing material as was carried out in a relatedmanufacturing process can be omitted, which step was carried out for thesemiconductor wafer to be diced into chips. Hence, a reverse-blockingIGBT can be provided at a low cost with high reliability.

FIG. 21 is a characteristic diagram showing an impurity concentrationprofile in an isolation layer formed by ion implantation and lowtemperature annealing. The impurity concentration profile was measuredby the SR (Spreading Resistance) method. The flatness of the side wallof the trench is excellent, at 1 nm Ra. Therefore, even with isolationlayer 145 having a diffusion depth of the order of 1 μm with an impurityconcentration of the order of 10¹⁸ cm⁻³, a depletion layer can bereliably stopped. Although boron was used as a dopant for forming theabove-described isolation layer, aluminum can also be used. In addition,in embodiment 3, UV tape 139 was used for the adhesive tape on the sideof supporting substrate 141. However, a removable tape used in anordinary grinding process (a back-grinding process) can be used whichcan be removed from supporting substrate 141 by peeling (pulling off).

Embodiment 4

FIG. 22 is a cross sectional view showing a principal part of areverse-blocking IGBT in a state in the course of being manufactured bya method of manufacturing the reverse-blocking IGBT according toembodiment 4 of the invention. The cross sectional view corresponds tothat of FIG. 17. As shown in FIG. 22, embodiment 4 differs fromembodiment 3 in that, for forming isolation layer 145, laser annealing147 is carried out instead of low temperature annealing after ionimplantation. The other processes are the same as those in embodiment 3.Elements that are similar to those in embodiment 3 are denoted with thesame reference numerals and signs as in embodiment 3, and explanationsabout these are omitted.

FIG. 23 is a characteristic diagram showing an impurity concentrationprofile in an isolation layer when the isolation layer was subjected tolaser annealing. For reference, an impurity concentration profile whenthe isolation layer was subjected to low temperature annealing is alsoshown. In the laser annealing, the isolation layer is irradiated with aYAG2ω double-pulse laser (with a total irradiation energy density of 3J/cm² from two laser units (1.5 J/cm²+1.5 J/cm²), a wavelength of 532 nmand a delay time of 300 ns between the two laser pulses).

When boron ions as dopant ions implanted into the side wall of thetrench are activated under the above conditions, an isolation layer canbe obtained with an impurity concentration exceeding 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, and adepth on the order of 1 μm. The resulting isolation layer, being harderto be depleted than an isolation layer obtained in the case when lowtemperature annealing is used, can enhance the rate of acceptableproducts about a reverse breakdown voltage. The reason that the impurityconcentration becomes higher than that in the case when low temperatureannealing is used is that the side wall of the trench is instantaneouslyheated up to a temperature near the melting point of silicon to enhanceactivation yield of the dopant ions.

Furthermore, the laser annealing exerts a heat influence only on aregion subjected to ion implantation in a section where the isolationlayer is formed. Therefore, no thermal load is added again to thedevice, so that the laser annealing is provided as a good method. Thelaser annealing can be carried out by laser irradiation onto a partdesired to be irradiated with the other parts covered by metal masks ofa material such as SUS, or by partial laser irradiation onto the desiredpart. The partial irradiation laser annealing is a method of partiallycarrying out annealing by partially scanning with a laser beam or bycontrolling laser irradiation with a shutter that is opened and closedwhile laser beam scanning is performed.

FIG. 24 is a view showing a method of measuring a relationship betweenan amount of shift Z of the semiconductor substrate from the focal pointof a laser beam toward a laser beam source and a peak impurityconcentration in the semiconductor substrate. In the measurement,twenty-one semiconductor substrates were provided into each of whichboron ions were implanted with the same dose. The twenty-onesemiconductor substrates were divided into three groups and irradiatedwith a YAG2ω laser for laser annealing. The seven semiconductorsubstrates in the first group (No. 1 group) were irradiated with anirradiation energy density of the laser beam given as 3.0 J/cm², theseven semiconductor substrates in the second group (No. 2 group) wereirradiated with an irradiation energy density given as 1.5 J/cm², andthe seven semiconductor substrates in the third group (No. 3 group) wereirradiated with an irradiation energy density given as 1.2 J/cm². Atirradiation, the seven semiconductor substrates in each group were setat positions (seven positions) with respective amounts of shift Z fromthe focal point taken as 0 mm, 0.2 mm, 0.4 mm, 0.6 mm, 0.8 mm, 1.0 mmand 1.2 mm. After the laser annealing, the peak impurity concentrationin each semiconductor substrate was measured. An explanation of theresults will be given below.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a relationship between the amount of shiftZ of the semiconductor substrate from the focal point of a laser beamtoward a laser beam source and the peak impurity concentration in thesemiconductor substrate. From FIG. 25, it is known that the peakimpurity concentration varies with a shift from the focal point when theirradiation energy density is 1.2 J/cm². Moreover, it is known that,with the irradiation energies of 1.5 J/cm² and 3.0 J/cm², the impurityconcentration is not varied until the shift from the focal point exceeds1 mm.

In other words, it is known that, in embodiment 4, irradiation with anirradiation energy density of 1.5 J/cm² or more enables sufficientactivation of the layer of implanted impurity ions in the side wall.Therefore, when an isolation layer is formed by ion implantation intothe side wall of a trench 1 mm or less in depth to the bottom,irradiation with an irradiation energy density of 1.5 J/cm² or moreenables sufficient activation of the implanted impurity ions.

In a reverse-blocking IGBT, for a wafer with a thickness up to 1 mm inwhich electrical characteristics such as a breakdown voltage can beensured, an isolation layer can be formed by carrying out this laserannealing. Moreover, for a wafer with a trench less than 10 μm in depthto the bottom, laser annealing has already been used in forming anintegrated circuit. Therefore, the laser annealing can be applied to awafer with a trench between 10 μm and 1 mm in depth to the bottom.

According to embodiment 3 or 4, the adverse effect due to oxygen can beeliminated more than in the case in which the isolation layer is formedby a coating and diffusion method, so that a far more excellent rate ofacceptable products (>90%) can be ensured. Moreover, low temperatureannealing (embodiment 3) or laser annealing (embodiment 4) used foractivating the above-described isolation layer allows the isolationlayer to be provided uniformly with a shallow diffusion depth. This canminimize an area of the isolation layer occupying the semiconductor chipto allow device pitch to be reduced. Explanation of embodiment 4 wasmade by limiting the formation of the isolation layer with laserannealing to the case in which the formation was carried out after thesemiconductor wafer was affixed to the supporting substrate with thedouble-sided adhesive tape. However, the laser annealing technique isalso highly effective for a case in which the isolation layer is formedby a method other than the method carried out by affixing thesemiconductor wafer to the supporting substrate.

Embodiment 5

FIG. 26 and FIG. 27 are cross sectional views showing a method ofmanufacturing a reverse-blocking IGBT according to embodiment 5 of theinvention in the order of manufacturing steps with the IGBT presented byits principal part. As shown in FIG. 26 and FIG. 27, the method ofmanufacturing a reverse-blocking IGBT according to embodiment 5 isprovided as follows. Namely, in the method of manufacturing an IGBTaccording to embodiment 4, after the isolation layer is formed, dicing(laser dicing) 148 is carried out by laser irradiation to cut pcollector region 110 and collector electrode 111 at the bottom of thetrench. Then, thermal foaming tape 138 is heated so that thinsemiconductor wafer 101 is removed from double-sided adhesive tape 137.Elements similar to those in embodiment 4 are denoted with the samereference numerals and signs as those in embodiment 4, and explanationsabout these are omitted.

Although not particularly limited, laser dicing 148 is carried out by aYAG2ω double-pulse laser (with a total irradiation energy density of 6J/cm² from two laser pulses (3 J/cm²+3 J/cm²), with a wavelength of 532nm and a delay time of 0 ns between the two laser pulses (no delay timeis provided)), for example. At this time, the diameter of the laser beamis narrowed so that dicing of a micro-region can be carried out. Afterlaser dicing 148 is finished, as in embodiment 3, thermal foaming tape138 is heated to remove thin semiconductor wafer 101 from double-sidedadhesive tape 137. When ion implantation is carried out, ideal maskingis made to cover the trench section only.

Here, in the laser annealing process, the laser annealing is carried outwith the irradiation being made to leave no work mark (in a state of nowork mode). An adequate irradiation energy density at this time is 2J/cm² or less per one pulse when YAG2ω laser is used as in embodiment 5.While, in the laser dicing process, the dicing is carried out with theirradiation being made to enter a work mode. For bringing theirradiation into the work mode, it is necessary only that theirradiation energy density be brought to 2 J/cm² or more per one pulse.When collector electrode 111 with a thickness of several micrometers iscut, an adequate irradiation energy density is on the order of 3 J/cm²per one pulse.

According to embodiment 5, after laser dicing 148 is carried out,double-sided adhesive tape 137 is removed from thin semiconductor wafer101 to make wafer 101 provided as individual chips. This allowscollector electrode 111 to be diced neatly without presenting anyexcessive portions and any insufficient portions under isolation layer145. Therefore, no collector electrode 111 is left with its portionbeing a little protruded from the edge of the chip and no collectorelectrode 111 is broken off in a portion under isolation layer 145.Moreover, no burr is left on the diced face of collector electrode 111to allow a neat edge (diced face) of the chip to be obtained.

Furthermore, laser annealing and laser dicing can be successivelycarried out with the same laser irradiation device by adjustingirradiation energy density so as to be suited for the respectivepurposes. This makes it unnecessary to separately provide a device forlaser annealing and a device for laser dicing, so that there is a highdevice merit. In addition to the YAG2ω double-pulse laser, an excimer(such as XeF and XeCl) laser, a YAG3ω laser, YLF2ω laser or asemiconductor laser can be also used for carrying out the invention withtheir respective irradiation energy densities adjusted.

In the foregoing, the invention is not limited to the above-explainedembodiments but can be variously modified. In the above-describedembodiments, the first conductivity type was taken as an n-type and thesecond conductivity type was taken as a p-type. The invention, however,is also valid even though the conductivity types are reversed.Furthermore, the invention can be validly applicable not only to thereverse-blocking IGBT but also to other kinds of reverse-blockingdevices and bi-directional devices, or to semiconductor devices such asMOSFETs, bipolar transistors, MOS thyristors each of whose manufacturingprocesses is accompanied by formation of an isolation layer.

As explained in the foregoing, the semiconductor devices and the methodsof manufacturing the devices according to the invention are useful forpower semiconductor devices used for a system such as a power conversionsystem, and in particular, are suited for bi-directional devices orreverse-blocking devices.

Thus, a semiconductor device and manufacturing method have beendescribed according to the present invention. Many modifications andvariations may be made to the techniques and structures described andillustrated herein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention. Accordingly, it should be understood that the devices andmethods described herein are illustrative only and are not limiting uponthe scope of the invention.

1. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including the stepsof: forming a plurality of diffused layers, a first main electrode and acontrol electrode on a first principal surface side of a semiconductorwafer; thinning the semiconductor wafer by grinding a second principalsurface of the semiconductor wafer; forming a diffused layer and asecond main electrode in contact with the diffused layer on the secondprincipal surface side of the thinned semiconductor wafer; affixing thesecond main electrode to a supporting substrate with an adhesive layerin between; forming a trench reaching the diffused layer on the secondprincipal surface side from the first principal surface side; forming onthe whole area of the surface of the side wall of the trench anisolation layer having the same conductivity type as the diffused layeron the second principal surface side so that the isolation layer is incontact with the diffused layer on the second principal surface side;and removing the adhesive layer from the thinned semiconductor wafer toproduce a plurality of semiconductor chips.
 2. The method ofmanufacturing a semiconductor device as claimed in claim 1, wherein theadhesive layer is formed of at least a thermal foaming tape.
 3. Themethod of manufacturing a semiconductor device as claimed in claim 1,wherein a crystal face of the first principal surface of the thinnedsemiconductor wafer is a {100} plane, and a crystal face of the surfaceof the trench is a {111} plane.
 4. The method of manufacturing asemiconductor device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the trench is formedby wet anisotropic etching.
 5. The method of manufacturing asemiconductor device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the isolation layeris formed by ion implantation and low temperature annealing at 500° C.or below.
 6. The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the isolation layer is formed by ionimplantation and laser annealing.
 7. The method of manufacturing asemiconductor device as claimed in claim 6, wherein an irradiationenergy density of a laser beam projected onto the surface of the sidewall of the trench is constant over the whole area of the surface of theside wall.
 8. The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device asclaimed in claim 7, wherein the irradiation energy density of the laseris 1.5 Joule/cm² or more.
 9. The method of manufacturing a semiconductordevice as claimed in claim 7, wherein the trench has a depth to thebottom face of 1 mm or less.
 10. A method of manufacturing asemiconductor device including the steps of: forming a plurality ofdiffused layers, a first main electrode and a control electrode on afirst principal surface side of a semiconductor wafer; thinning thesemiconductor wafer by grinding a second principal surface of thesemiconductor wafer; forming a diffused layer and a second mainelectrode in contact with the diffused layer on the second principalsurface side of the thinned semiconductor wafer; affixing the secondmain electrode to a supporting substrate with an adhesive layer putbetween; forming a trench reaching the diffused layer on the secondprincipal surface side from the first principal surface side; forming onthe whole area of the surface of the side wall an isolation layer havingthe same conductivity type as the diffused layer on the second principalsurface side so that the isolation layer is in contact with the diffusedlayer on the second principal surface side by implanting impurity ionsinto the whole area of the surface of the side wall and carrying outlaser irradiation on the area into which the impurity ions areimplanted; cutting through the diffused layer on the second principalsurface side and the second main electrode thereunder by carrying outlaser irradiation on a bottom face of the trench; and removing theadhesive layer from the thinned semiconductor wafer to provide aplurality of semiconductor chips.
 11. The method of manufacturing asemiconductor device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the laserirradiation when the isolation layer is formed and the laser irradiationwhen the diffused layer on the second principal surface side and thesecond main electrode are cut through are carried out by the same laserirradiation device.